Nurse Joy (Japanese: ジョーイJoy, referred to as ジョーイさんJoy-san by most characters) are kind nurses who take care of Pokémon. As revealed in Drifloon in the Wind!, Joy is not the first name of these women, but actually the family name. Her Japanese name is a play on 女医 joi, woman doctor. They are based on the in-game Pokémon Center Nurses.

In the anime

Three Nurse Joys as they appear in Kanto, the Orange Islands, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh

Nurse Joy is not just one person; many Joys work as nurses across the various regions of the Pokémon world.

As a rule, Nurse Joys are kind, earnest, honest Pokémon nurses who take care of sick and injured Pokémon, but will confront a Pokémon Trainer if they are not properly caring for their Pokémon.

They are not entirely identical, though aside from themselves, it seems that Brock is the only one who can tell them apart. However, each Nurse Joy will have a different color cross on her hat that indicates which location she works at.

Supposedly, they are all extremely similar-looking relatives-cousins, sisters, etc. However, fans have proposed various other theories has been suggested for the strange phenomenon—everything from time travel, to cloning, to the Nurse Joys being Pokémon themselves.

There are several notable Nurse Joys who appear vastly different from the others. A Nurse Joy acts as the Pokémon League inspector in Showdown at Dark City, her first appearance as anything but an ordinary Nurse Joy. Another Nurse Joy living in the Orange Archipelago has made her career instead be as an archaeologist, leading an expedition to a deserted island in Shell Shock. A muscle-bound, kayak-riding Nurse Joy who also lives in the archipelago was featured, along with her befriended giantMagikarp, in The Joy of Pokémon. Other Nurse Joys living on the islands have a noticeably darker skin tone than their mainland counterparts, likely due to living in a more tropical region.

A Nurse Joy who appeared in The Joy of Water Pokémon was in charge of a Pokémon Center which specialized in Water-type Pokémon, despite being afraid of them herself. Two young Joys, named Marnie and Paige, appeared in Drifloon on the Wind, where it was revealed that Joy is the surname of the family, rather than the given name of each individual woman. Their mother, of course, was an ordinary Nurse Joy.

There is a similarity between the families of Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny, and Don George. Fans have speculated about some sort of relation or deeper connection; however, the only thing known for sure about the three families is that they are on good terms.

Like all residents of Bloomingvale, Nurse Joy owns a Sunflora that she received in a trade from Cyrus. Sonrisa's Sunflora, Sunny, used to play with Gwendela when it was with Cyrus, but became gloomy after it was traded. Sunny was led to Gwendela and soon started to dance.

The Nurse Joy that lives inside the Ice Path runs a Pokémon Center that takes care of several Ice-type Pokémon—a Jynx being one of them. Jynx is Nurse Joy's main helper in the center, much like the Chansey of most other centers.

As a Torchic, it was supposed to be given to a beginning Trainer in Hoenn. It was a crafty and quite strong, by pretending to cry in front of Pikachu and managing to defeat Corphish. It gained so much experience that it evolved into a Combusken. Once it evolved, it could no longer be given away, and so it stayed in the Pokémon Center.

A Nurse Joy from the Pokémon Inspection Agency owns a Latias. She was used to battle against Forrest's Rhyperior in the Pewter Gym, in order to determine whether the Gym should be closed or not. Although Latias won the battle, Nurse Joy was impressed by Forrest's skill and spared the Pewter Gym.

Befriended

Magikarp → Gyarados

Nurse Joy befriended a Gyarados when it was a giantMagikarp. It first appeared as a Magikarp when it jumped out of the water in front of Ash and his friends. Nurse Joy appeared and fed it tablets, saying the Pokémon that live on the islands are too small for a Pokémon Center and need medicine if sick. It was later revealed that Nurse Joy had known Magikarp since she was small and found it washed up on the shore; she later cared for it as it grew and grew. The Magikarp later appeared when Team Rocket captured Ash and his friends, including Nurse Joy, stopping them from helping a very sick Seel. Magikarp appeared and rammed Team Rocket's submarine, then suddenly evolved into a Gyarados and defeated Team Rocket.

Stephanie's father's Treecko was looked after by Ash and Max. She seemed to take a liking to Ash's Treecko in that she held something in her mouth, in her case a flower. She was picked by Stephanie's father because she had nowhere to go.

In the games

Nurse Joy, like many anime characters, has a game counterpart. Nurse Joy does appear, however in Pokémon Yellow, she replaces the Pokémon Center Nurse and is accompanied by a Chansey in every Pokémon Center. Furthermore, an old news page from Game Freak on Pokémon Yellow suggests that her name is in fact Joy (ジョーイ).

Trivia

Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny, and Don George all have Japanese names that begin with the kana ジ, while their English names all start with the same sound, dʒ. They also all happen to be part of a large, extended family.